Collegiate Leaderboard Check-In: Three Takeaways From The First Six Weeks

NCAA Track and Field Athletes have started to lay down some fast marks as the season progresses.

Jan 17, 2025 by Maxx Bradley

Collegiate Leaderboard Check-In: Three Takeaways From The First Six Weeks

As we get farther into January, more and more athletes are making their long-awaited debuts as the competition begins to heat up nationwide.

With over half of the indoor season still to come, we thought there was no better time than now to check out the collegiate leaderboard and look for any trends or eye-catching patterns.

Here are three takeaways from performances so far this season.

1. Kimberley May & Shannon Flockhart Have Put Providence On The Map

The running world was formally introduced to Kimberley May a year ago after the 'Kiwi' clocked 4:27.85 in her runner-up finish at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic.

Throughout the next couple of months, May notched PBs in the mile (4:27), 800m (2:03), 5000m (15:26), and 1500m (4:07). She also tallied a pair of top-three finishes at the NCAA Championships.

Meanwhile, May's counterpart and mid-distance standout, Shannon Flockhart, put together a run of her own. In that same span, Flockhart ran 2:42, 4:30, and 4:05 in the 1000m, mile, and 1500m, respectively.

Just months after leading the Friars to a third-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, both women have already found themselves at the top of the collegiate leaderboard. May threw down the fastest mile time of the season over the weekend at the UMass Amherst Flagship Invitational, winning the mile in 4:28.33. Flockhart soared to the top of the national 3000m list back in December after finishing runner-up at the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. The sky is the limit for the Friars and momentum is surely on their side.

2. Texas A&M Men Waste No Time Flexing Sprint Power

Over the years, the Aggies have had their fair share of dominant athletes in several specialties. Some years it was their mid-distance that shined, while their field events stole the show in others. Regardless, it's not often that Texas A&M isn't dominant in at least one area of the sport, and that's no different in 2025.

Six weeks into the season, Auhmad Robinson, Antonie Nortje, and three other members of the 4x400m are the cream of the crop. Robinson and Nortje posted collegiate leads on their home track at the McFerrin 12-Degree Invite. Robinson took the win in the 300m, running 32.34 for a new PB. and the fourth-fastest time ever run by a collegian.

In his debut for the Aggies, Nortje ran 46.12 over 400m, picking up the win and the best indoor debut of his career. The SEC power also has the best 4x400m quartet of anyone this winter, as DeMarco Escobar, Cutler Zamzow, Kimar Farquharson, and Robinson combined for a 3:05.80, winning by over half of a second.

3. BYU Women's Mid-Distance Keeping Pace With Distance Stars

In November, Diljeet Taylor and her Cougar squad completed their ultimate goal of hoisting the national championship trophy into the air. They took down a historically loaded field to do so and BYU proved they're one of one.

Not even two months since their title-clinching run, the Cougars are already taking care of business on the track, but not how you might have predicted. For years, BYU has been seen as one of the best distance programs in the country. Could this be the year we see Taylor's squad take over the world of mid-distance as well?

Obviously, with a group of runners consisting of Lexy Halladay-Lowry, Carmen Alder, Riley Chamberlain, Jenna Hutchins, and so many more, it's safe to say things are solid on the distance side of things. However, big-time performances from Sami Oblad and Meghan Hunter are turning heads.

Oblad got her 2025 campaign underway at the BYU Cougar Indoor Invitational where she won both the 200m and the 600y. The latter result was not only a lifetime best (1:19.89) but also the top time in the NCAA thus far. Hunter on the other hand ran 2:02.03 in the 800m in Boston, nearly joining the sub-2:02 club. It's still early, but if one thing is for certain, you simply cannot bet against Coach Taylor.

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